A.
The Village Board is aware of the country's current plague of shootings of, and other types of attacks on, innocent persons in schools, in the workplace, in places of worship, in other public places, and in homes. The Village Board recognizes that it cannot solve this problem and is mindful of the right to bear arms given to the people by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and by New York Civil Rights Law § 4. Balanced against these rights is the Village's objective of providing a safe work environment for Village employees and a safe place for visitors to Village buildings. Weighing these competing points, the Village Board finds that safety is paramount. Therefore, this chapter bans possession of firearms within the Village buildings identified in this chapter by persons other than those permitted to do so by this chapter.
B.
In enacting this chapter, the Village Board is relying on the oft-quoted phrase from the United States Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v Heller, 554 US 570, 626 (2008): "Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding . . . laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings. . . .," and the Supreme Court's reiteration of that proposition in McDonald v City of Chicago, Illinois, 561 US 742, 786 (2010) ("We made it clear in Heller that our holding did not cast doubt on such longstanding regulatory measures as ... 'laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings. . . .'").
C.
Preceding Heller and McDonald, the Attorney General of the State of New York, in Informal Opinion No. 89-75, opined that a village, when acting in its proprietary capacity, could ban possession of firearms within Village Hall. In reaching this conclusion, the Attorney General relied upon Barrett v Kunzig, 331 F. Supp. 266, 272 (M.D. Tenn 1971), cert den, 409 US 914 (1972) which had observed: "[I]t would seem clear that the United States Government and its custodian, General Services Administration, could make use of its property as could any private citizen with his home. Hence, it could prevent entry or make such conditions as it deemed proper as a precedent to entry."
D.
After Heller, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals faced a case where banning the possession of firearms on government property was the issue. In Bonidy v United States Postal Serv., 790 F3d 1121 (10th Cir. 2015), the Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the section of the Code of Federal Regulations that prohibits carrying firearms while on property belonging to the United States Postal Service (39 CFR § 232.1 [1]) against a challenge from a person with a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
E.
Although the United States Postal Service (USPS) is an arm of the government and not a private company, the Court noted: "As a government-owned business acting as a proprietor rather than as a sovereign, the USPS has broad discretion to govern it business operations according to the rules it deems appropriate. ... [T]he bans [on possession of firearms] struck down in Heller and McDonald ... regulated wholly private activity and applied to every citizen within the respective jurisdictions. By contrast, the regulation challenged here applies only to discrete parcels of land owned by the U.S. Postal Service, and affects private citizens only insofar as they are doing business with the USPS on USPS property. And the regulation is directly relevant to the USPS's business objectives, which include providing a safe environment for its patrons and employees." Bonidy, 790 F3d at 1126-27.
F.
Finally, this chapter is compatible with the federal statute (18 U.S.C. § 930) that, with certain exceptions, bans the possession of firearms within those buildings owned or leased by the federal government where employees of the federal government are regularly present for the purpose of performing their official duties.
G.
The Village Board, acting in its proprietary capacity as owner of the Village buildings defined below, enacts the following ban on the possession of firearms in those Village buildings.